Contact: Jon-Michael Basile, jbasile@dataqualitycampaign.org, p:202-787-5718 c:202-360-2770
WASHINGTON—January 12, 2015—President Barack Obama today announced a series of commitments and proposed actions to safeguard data. Following are the remarks of Aimee Rogstad Guidera, founder and executive director of the Data Quality Campaign, a national nonprofit that advocates for the safe, effective use of education data to improve student outcomes:
“We are pleased that President Obama and the administration are prioritizing the safeguarding of student data. Everyone who has a stake in education has a role to play in ensuring that we protect the personal information of our students as we use data to personalize learning and help our young people achieve their goals.
“The President’s announcement highlights the critical role that our teachers and school leaders play in protecting student privacy in the classroom by providing a call to action to provide our educators with training on how to safely use data as they prepare our students for success in the classroom and beyond.
“The proposed federal legislation is based on a California law that enables educators and parents to take advantage of technology to improve student achievement while ensuring that protections are in place to safeguard personal information.
“Today’s announcement reinforces a strong, ongoing effort by states, which have passed 26 new laws in the past year to safeguard student data, and efforts by the education technology industry, which pledged a series of commitments to safeguard data that has been signed by 75 companies. These are important first steps of many to create comprehensive protection for student data.
“We also applaud the efforts of the US Department of Education to provide critical assistance to education leaders through the Privacy Technical Assistance Center. With state, federal, and industry action, it is more essential than ever that we align all of these cross-sector efforts and provide clear, consistent guidance to educators and school leaders as they use data and technology to improve student outcomes.”
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